The Root Beer Stand

          This is probably the wrong time of year to be doing a review of The Root Beer Stand, a seasonal operation that serves between March 26 and September 26 each year. But I was in the area scouting locations for an upcoming short film that will be hitting the festival circuit and I hadn't been to this place in a while so I figured, what the heck.
          Opened in 1957 (which makes it almost as old as me), The Root Beer Stand was originally a classic diner with car hops that was right on the main route between Michigan and Florida. Located at 11566 Reading Rd. in Sharonville (on the web at http://www.therootbeerstand.com and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/therootbeerstand), The Root Beer Stand looks pretty much today the way it did when it opened. For a long time it was a franchise for A & W Root Beer which is when I first found it back in the 1970s. In 1982 the franchise expired as A & W was getting out of the restaurant game but The Root Beer Stand continued to serve a loyal group of customers.
                                                                       The Burger

          Right up front it's important to know, if you've never been to The Root Beer Stand, that they specialize in, obviously, root beer but also their chili and chili dogs. The burgers there are pretty pedestrian. But that doesn't matter. Sure, they're pretty typical frozen patties but if you order the quarter pound burger, as I did, they at least cook it up fresh, guaranteed.
          There are no tables at this place, just a counter and in a lot of places your view of the area beyond is blocked with various bits of memorabilia. Again, that doesn't matter. While there are some folks who do sit at the few counter seats and order up and eat, a whole host of people just stand around, grab their order and take it to go.

          The burgers here, as I have already noted, aren't great; maybe a slight step ahead of a McWendy's King burger. But you don't go to The Root Beer Stand for the burger. Go for the atmosphere, go for the root beer, go for a foot long chili dog. But you'll have to wait until March to go again.

Cincy Burger

                Josh was off at work or out with friends or just avoiding a trip to the mall with his sister and me to do some back to college shopping recently when I saw a brand new place in the food court. Called Cincy Burger they promised “fresh off the grill” burgers, wraps and more. My daughter and I weren’t going to eat at a fast food style mall food court place but I put this joint in the back of my mind to try sometime.

                Located inside the Eastgate Mall and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/cincy.burgers, Cincy Burgers isn’t a chain and it doesn’t look to be anything fancy. In fact, the menu is printed out and taped to the front of the booth. These are obviously some folks with a dream and they are trying to turn it into a reality.

The Burger

                Like a growing number of up and coming burger chains, Cincy Burger grills up their fare fresh when it is ordered. In fact, my order of a cheeseburger and fries brought about the fries being dropped into the fryer and the burger coming out of the refrigerator and going on a hot grill. Ah, the sound of the sizzle was refreshing. As was the aroma of the mean as I stood there and watched the guy fry it up for me.

                Better than one of the big fast food joints, this burger was enhanced somewhat by a good quality, fresh bun, crisp lettuce and a ripe tomato. There was perhaps too much of a heavy hand on the condiments but overall this was a very pleasant surprise.

                Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t going to rival any of our favorite burger joints. Nor is it really in the same class as say a Five Guys, but for what it is I have to admit that the food was tasty; with one exception. The dill pickle spear they served left a lot to be desired. And even though the food was cooked when it was ordered, their process was rather quick. I ordered, paid, got my drink, and watched as my burger was being flipped and pressed with precision.

                The two guys behind the counter running the place were very friendly and even a bit chatty. It didn’t feel like I was standing in the middle of a shopping mall getting my food. But that’s where I was.

                Cincy Burger isn’t the kind of place you would go out of your way to visit but if you find yourself in the Eastgate area and want to try a burger, I would recommend you give it a shot.

Roney's

                Driving down a familiar stretch of road a while back we noticed that one of the very last Roy Roger’s restaurants was gone. A once thriving chain, Roy Roger’s (http://www.royrogersrestaurants.com/#/home), named for the famed TV and movie cowboy star, now exists in only eight states. We had proudly blogged about this dying chain (http://turnerbudds-burgerblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/roy-rogers.html) and got emails from all over the country; people telling us how much they had enjoyed this place before it started to disappear.

                Sitting at the site of our lost Roy Roger’s at 474 Roney Ln. just off State Route 32 was the familiar sign with a new name: Roney’s. Though they don’t have a web site they are on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/roneysrestaurant). It’s there that we learned that these are the same people who had been running that Roy Roger’s location since 1969. And they were claiming the same great menu. We had to go and check it out.

Burgers

                First off, Roney’s and Roy Roger’s before it, really is a fast food restaurant. Unlike your typical Wendy’s, McDonald’s or Burger King, though, they don’t start cooking your food until you order it. Yes the pure beef patties are frozen and yes, the fries are your typical restaurant fare, but somehow these burgers are just a little better.

                Maybe it’s the grill that has been turning out fast, quality burgers for over 40 years. Maybe it’s just the atmosphere of the place, still packed with Roy Roger’s memorabilia. Maybe the meat is just a little higher quality. Whatever the reason, these burgers come up hot and juicy and are better than any of those other fast food joints.

                We pondered these ideas on the last Roy Roger’s blog post. And the number of people who sent us emails talking about how much they loved Roy Roger’s all pretty much had the same thing to say: they liked it. And those who no longer lived near one of the few existing restaurants envied us for having one.

                Roney’s isn’t technically a Roy Roger’s but it might as well be. The fried chicken there is the same moist and delicious white and dark meat (so much better than any other takeout chicken joint). The menu and the food is exactly the same. So we may have technically lost our Roy Roger’s but we still have the exact same restaurant to visit and enjoy. If you’re on the east side of town you might want to stop in for a bit of nostalgia.

Frisch's New Burgers

          OK, first off, these burgers aren't actually new. They've been on the menu for a while but they are still advertised as new. Frisch's, if you don't know, is the oldest of the Big Boy franchise holders having actually become a part of the Big Boy family in 1946, 10 years after Bob's original restaurant was founded in California. The Frisch family has been in the restaurant business even longer than that. Samuel Frisch opened his first cafe in 1906 and the business has grown since then. They created the region's first drive-in restaurant and had multiple locations around the city during World War II.
           After WW II Frisch's became the place to be seen; if you were a teenager. Cruising Frisch's was almost a requirement for youngsters in their first cars. Today, Frisch's operates nearly 100 restaurants and franchises over 20 more. If you don't know where your local Frisch's is then you've been living under a rock but you can find them on line at: http://www.frischs.com/.
                                                                  Burgers

          Josh suggested that we stop in at Frisch's one afternoon when we were out and about picking up some necessities. It's always been one of our favorite places. Normally we order up our usual Super Big Boys but this time we decided to try the "new" Primetime burgers; a full third pound of "fresh handmade burgers with a taste all their own."
          We know that Frisch's isn't going to beat the best little joint burgers that we've found in our searches but we also know that it is going to be consistent. You know what you are going to get when you order up at any Frisch's location and, while not as good as a Zip's or Van Zandt's burger, it's going to be tasty.

          No, we weren't really disappointed with the Primetime Burger. It was about what we would expect from a Frisch's sandwich. It didn't, as advertised, have a taste all it's own. In fact, it tasted pretty much like those Super Big Boys of which we're so fond. We would suggest that you try these Primetime Burgers for yourself and make your own call. We liked them but they weren't special enough to make us jump in awe.
          It was a noble experiment on our part but the bottom line is that when we go back to Frisch's again, and we will, it will be to enjoy our usual Super Big Boy.

JerZee's Pub and Grub

          While wandering around and enjoying the cars at the fabulous Rides on Monmouth Car show recently, we decided to duck into JerZee's Pub and Grub and make a contribution to this blog as well.
          Located at 708 Monmouth in Newport and on the web at http://jerzeespub.com/, JerZee's is an interesting cross between a sports bar, a neighborhood pub and the local entertainment bar. While there are lots of places up and down Monmouth that fill one of these needs, JerZee's manages to do all three without sacrificing any of them.
          The place is bright enough to see but not too bright to distract from the numerous televisions. In the evening they offer up live music and when we went in the place had a good number of regular who were sitting around and having a great time. But the service, unlike some local watering holes, was not completely centered around those regulars. We were treated very well, getting fast, friendly service.
                                                                            Burgers

          We each ordered up the basic JerZee Burger which fresh Angus chuck delivered daily from the butcher across the street. Yeah, that's fresh. The burgers are cooked over an open flame grill (which you can see in action if you walk toward the back of the establishment) and you can taste all of this coming together in a very delicious sandwich.
          Add in a fresh bun and a wonderful garden and you have a winner. Now let us sidetrack for just a minute. We have a small garden at home where we grown our own tomatoes and lettuce (once that bacon plant starts sprouting we're gonna have some killer BLTs) and the tomato that was on our burgers was as good as anything we've pulled out of our garden.
          If there was a downside to these burgers it was that they were prepared medium well to well by the cook. We both prefer a little pink in the center but so many restaurants are going this route lately that it seems more the norm than the exception.
          The fries were also quite good though they had a little too much salt. They also had a sprinkle of pepper which both of us enjoyed.
          Overall we really liked this place and it gives us one more option whenever we're heading to Northern Kentucky in general and Newport in particular. One of, it not the best burger on Monmouth. Go see for yourself.